Lotte and Karlijn Milders (the Milder Sisters)

Directors

Lotte and Karlijn Milder - aka the Milder Sisters - are a film directing duo and, as their name suggests, actual sisters. Combining their expertise in acting and cinematography, the duo focuses on bringing untold, mostly female-driven stories to life. 

Their passion lies in directing fictional content, which made it a dream come true to recently shoot their first international period piece, Fanny. This project featured a country mixed cast and crew and was shot in the Netherlands, Hungary, and Belgium. 

In 2025, the sisters will develop their feature film Maskerade, in collaboration with writers Jolein Laarman and Ilse Ott, expanding the narrative introduced in Fanny. 

Additionally, they are working with Dutch public broadcasters NPO and NTR on Snail, another short period piece. Beyond their narrative work, the sisters are currently directing a documentary and have worked on several commercials for renowned brands such as Rijksmuseum, Tommy Hilfiger, Philips, and Essity. 

Charlotte Driessen

Harpy Films

Charlotte Driessen graduated in 2014 with a degree in International Media & Entertainment Management in Breda. During and after her studies, she spent seven years working as a freelancer on her own projects as well as for others. She also produced the International Documentary Festival DOCfeed for several years and taught film classes to film students and underprivileged youth. In 2021, she founded Harpy Films, a film production company focused on national and, particularly, international films and other content. The company aims to shine a light on those who dare to be different, inspire people to change their perspectives, and make a difference.

Over the past years, Charlotte has completed various training programs and workshops, such as (among others) the CineSud’s Producers Lab and Talents to Cannes program, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Visitors Program, and more recently, "Het Beloofde Land" by Screen Talent NL.

In 2024 she completed three short projects (Ultraviolet, As Requested, and BAX) and is currently finishing the international costume drama Fanny, youth documentary Dubbel Vakantie and feature fiction film Hamartia.

Safirah Dijkstra

VPRO-HUMAN & de Ontmoeting

Safirah Dijkstra is a dramaturge at VPRO-HUMAN. She is also project leader of the talent development program for short films De Ontmoeting. In addition, she is also a board member at VERS, an association for new film and television makers. Safirah studied Theater, Film and Television Studies at Utrecht University and obtained a master's degree in Art, Culture and Politics at the University of Amsterdam. She previously worked as Marketing and PR Manager at distributors Cinema Delicatessen and Amstelfilm.

Sara Moeniralam

NPO 3LAB

Sara Moeniralam is a content coordinator for NPO 3LAB. She studied Media & Culture (BA) and Film Studies (MA) at the University of Amsterdam. After graduating she started working for the brands MTV & Nickelodeon as an editor/writer/researcher and created local online content for these brands. After a couple of years Sara switched from a commercial broadcaster to public broadcasters where she worked as an editor for a children’s television show and a talk show. At her current job it is her goal to create a more accessible, visible and durable entrance within the public broadcasting system. To shine light on stories that usually do not get the opportunities to be told. Her bigger goal in life is to make invisible people visible.

Katharina Huber

Director

After graduating at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Katharina Huber received a scholarship from the DAAD to study at the Royal College of Art in London. Back in Cologne she continued to work as an independent filmmaker. 

She co-founded of a Studio Huber Casalprim where she produced the semi-doc-essay-feature Out of the Gardens, shot in Antarctica. The film premiered in FID Marseille in 2018. In 2020 her short film The Natural Death of a Mouse was awarded at international festivals and received the German Short Film Prize (Lola). She also wrote, directed and produced the full length fictional film A Good Place which premiered at the Film Festival Locarno in August 2023 and received the Award for Best Emerging Director. 

With her Cologne-based production company Acker Film, she is currently developing new feature and short film projects

Sarah Lederman

Director

Sarah Lederman studied both Documentary and Fiction at  The Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound (RITCS) in Brussels. She finished her Film MFA at Sint-Lucas Brussels with her short film Les Racines de l’Eau. She is part of Lukas Dhont's Future Five. ​​

She specializes in visual intimate stories through fine story telling, honest and pure with a considerate attention for detail. She has a great sensibility for capturing unfolding unique moments. Documentary and fiction film both fascinate her.

Currently she's in post-production for Blue Feather Tone and writing on her first feature within the scenario atelier of the VAF. 

Wensly Francisco

NPO

After ending his career with the Ministry of Defense in 2013, Wensly Francisco joined Public Broadcasting as a researcher and documentary filmmaker. Since 2024, he has been Talent Coordinator at the Netherlands Public Broadcasting Corporation (NPO). 
 

Matthijs Wouter Knol | European Film Academy

Matthijs Wouter Knol is a Dutch film programme curator and producer. After finishing his studies at Leiden University his career started in Amsterdam, where he initially worked as a producer of documentary films and for IDFA. In September 2008, Matthijs Wouter Knol was appointed programme manager of the Berlinale Talent Campus. In 2014 he was appointed as director of Berlinale's European Film Market. In 2011, he was one of the co-founders of the “Berlinale Residency” programme. Between 2014 and 2019; Matthijs was a member of the selection committee of the Competition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Since 2021 has been the director of the European Film Academy.

Ido Abram | I DO!

In 1992, Ido Abram graduated from University of Utrecht in Film and Television studies. From 1997 to 2005 he was the director of CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam before becoming director of the Binger Filmlab from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, Ido became the deputy director of the Eye filmmuseum. From 2019 to 2024 he also took on the role of director of SEE NL. In January 2024, Ido created his own company, I DO !, where he works in consulting, coaching and interim management for film and culture.

Christine Kiauk | Coin Film

Christine Kiauk graduated with a master degree in communication sciences and advertisement. From 1995 to 2000 she did press work for film and cultural events, was production assistant for film productions and editor for film funds. In 2001 she joined Coin Film as production manager, and from 2003 producer for numerous feature films and documentaries as well as international coproductions such as Mr. Gay Syria (Ayse Toprak, 2017, nominated at IDFA 2017) or Baghdad in My Shadow (Samir, 2019). Christine is also a member of the German Film Academy and Atéliers du Cinéma Européen (ACE).

Maarten van der Ven | Studio Ruba

Having previously studied Film, TV and Theater Studies, Maarten van der Ven graduated from the Dutch Film Academy in 2009 with the award-winning film Bingo. He then worked for several renowned production houses as an executive producer on award-winning short and feature films, including Meanwhile, he started VENFILM, in which he produced many award-winning films from the short film P (Aaron Rookus, 2014) to the documentary A Goat For A Vote (Jeroen van Velzen, 2014) and the midlength De dag dat mijn huis viel (Thessa Meijer, 2017). In 2016 he produced his first feature film Waterboys (Robert Jan Westdijk), which drew 60,000 people to movie theaters in the Netherlands.

Nicky Ontstenk

Nicky Onstenk (Producer, The Netherlands) completed her Bachelor of Media & Culture at the University of Amsterdam in 2015. In 2019 she graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy with the short fiction film Porfotto, which was nominated for a Student Oscar. After graduation, she started at IJswater Films as a junior producer. The documentary Dunya (directed by Tim Bary) premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival 2021. The short film Vlekkeloos (directed by Emma Branderhorst) won the main prize for the best short (youth) film at Berlinale 2022. Currently, there are several projects, both documentary, and fiction, long and short, in development and production. Magma by Luca Meisters and produced by IJswater Films premiered at Berlinale 2023.